


Requires Love

by isnonstop



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Foster Care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 19:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14432520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isnonstop/pseuds/isnonstop
Summary: “Parenthood requires love, not DNA.” -AnonymousMaria and Eliza have always agreed on one thing: becoming foster parents. And now they've finally received their first placement, a young girl named Susie.





	Requires Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends! This was a request from @schuylergirls on Tumblr for their birthday! Happy Birthday!
> 
> Maria Reynolds had a daughter named Susan, hence their foster daughter being called Susie.
> 
> There is a very brief/vague mention of past child abuse. It's very brief and vague but just a head's up.

Eliza had always loved children. She was the girl on the playground who would spend more time following the younger kids around, making sure the toddlers didn’t get hurt than playing with her friends. As soon as she was old enough she started babysitting all the younger kids in her neighbourhood and tutoring kids at the local elementary school. As a teenager, her weekends were filled with volunteering at a youth center and summers were spent working as a camp counsellor. She always had a soft spot for the children in foster care so it surprised no one when she announced at seventeen, that in addition to having her own children she wanted to be a foster parent. It was equally unsurprising when she decided to study psychology, specialising in childhood psychology.

Maria liked children but she’d never been as in love with them as Eliza. Maria didn’t have the idyllic childhood that Eliza had and as a result had to grow up quite quickly, which meant she was the most mature child her age. This often led her to being left in charge of the younger children in her foster homes or the group centers she was housed in. She had always felt a sense of responsibility for those children, making sure to keep them from harm and shielding them from the worst of their foster parents' malice as much as she could. Every time she was moved from a home she wondered what would happen to the children she left behind and desperately wished she there was more she could do. So when she aged out of the system and started university she decided she was going to be a foster parent and she was going to provide children with a safe and loving home, something she never had.

———

“Maria!” Eliza called, standing by the door. She was dressed and ready to leave, coat and hat securely on. “Maria, we’ve got to go! They’re expecting us in an hour.”

“I’m coming!” Maria responded, voice sounding like it was coming from the spare bedroom. She came out of the room a moment later, smiling as she made her way down the hall. “I was just checking to make sure everything was in order.”

“Everything is fine,” Eliza said, handing Maria her coat. “You’ve checked a million times.”

“I just want everything to be perfect,” Maria said, pulling on her coat before grabbing her scarf and wrapping it around her neck. “I want her to feel comfortable here.”

“I know, love,” Eliza said, wrapped a hand around Maria’s neck and pulling her in for a kiss. “Let’s go get her so she can see the room you painstakingly prepared for her.”

“Okay,” Maria whispered, smiling fondly at Eliza and pecking her lips gently.

———

“Do you think she’s going to like us?” Maria asked, nervously fiddling with the sleeves of her sweater as they sat in the social worker’s office. Vanessa had left a few minutes before to go fetch their new foster daughter from the break room where she had been waiting while Maria and Eliza finished with the paperwork.

“I’m sure she will,” Eliza said, taking Maria’s hand and squeezing it gently. Maria leaned into Eliza’s side, resting her head on her wife’s shoulder. Ever since they had been approved as foster parents she’d been anxiously waiting for their first placement. And when Vanessa called the week before about a young girl that needed a new home, that anxiety was increased by a million percent. Maria knew how terrifying it was to move from home to home, and she wanted to make sure that their new foster daughter was happy with them.

“Eliza, Maria,” Vanessa said from the door, making both women turn around. “This is Susie.”

The young girl standing next to Vanessa was small for her age and practically swimming in clothes that were obviously multiple sizes too big for her. Her right arm was in a sling and her long black curls were covering most of her face and neck, but Maria could still see the bruises on her jaw and throat. Vanessa had informed them of why she was being moved from her old foster home, but the foreknowledge of what happened did nothing to lessen the anger Maria felt at the evidence of the pain Susie had suffered.

“Hi, Susie,” Eliza said softly, standing and going over to crouch down in front of Susie.

“Susie doesn’t talk much,” Vanessa said, resting a hand on Susie’s shoulder.

“That’s okay,” Eliza said, smiling gently. Susie still hadn’t looked up from her feet. “We’re very excited to have you come live with us, Susie. Maria spent a really long time making sure your room was perfect.”

Susie glanced up at her, face still mostly hidden by her hair but Eliza could see the hesitant interest in her eyes. She smiled and gave Susie a small wave before signing something in ASL. The action made Susie’s eyes light up with excitement, her uninjured hand to sign something back.

“I didn’t know you knew ASL, Susie,” Vanessa said, sounding surprised as she looked down at the girl.

“You never asked,” Susie whispered, glancing up briefly at her before looking back at Eliza.

“I suppose I didn’t,” Vanessa said, moving over to her desk and grabbing a folder. She handed it to Maria with a smile. “This is the information you need to know about Susie. If you have any concerns or questions please give me a call. I’ll be coming by in a week to see how everyone is settling in.”

“Thank you,” Maria said, holding the folder tight as she went over her wife.

“Are you ready to go, Susie?” Eliza asked, signing along as she spoke. Susie nodded, adjusting her backpack that was slung over one shoulder. “Where are the rest of your things, Susie?” Susie blushed, looking down at her feet as she nodded, clutching her bag tighter.

“Is that all your stuff, Susie?” Maria asked softly.

“Yes,” Susie whispered, shuffling her feet.

“That’s okay,” Maria said. “We can get you some more things.”

“And Maria’s always made sure that there are plenty of the essentials at home for you,” Eliza said, leading Susie out of the office. “We can go shopping tomorrow to get everything else.”

Susie nodded and followed along silently, her uninjured hand clutching her bag tight.

———

“So this is your room,” Eliza said, pushing open the door to the spare bedroom that would now be Susie’s. “We can go shopping tomorrow to get you some more things to make it your own and anything you need. But for now, would you like to take some time and settle in?”

“Okay,” Susie whispered, stepping into the room. She looked around the room for a moment before going to the bed and resting her backpack on top of it.

“If you need anything, Maria and I will be in the living room,” Eliza said, standing in the doorway. “Come let us know if you need anything, okay?”

Susie nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Eliza watched her for a minute before leaving and shutting the door behind her. She went down the hall to the living room where Maria was sat, looking through the folder of information they were given about Susie.

“So?” Eliza said, sitting down next to her wife. “Anything we need to know that they didn’t tell us?”

“No, Vanessa pretty much mentioned everything we need to know,” Maria said, looking up. “There are a few things about past health stuff that isn’t really relevant anymore, cases of flu and infections, but everything else Vanessa mentioned.”

“Okay, then you can put that down,” Eliza said, taking the folder from her and resting it down on the coffee table. “And stop stressing.”

“She’s so small,” Maria said, shifting and leaning against Eliza’s side. “She looks like she’s six and she’s almost ten!”

“I know,” Eliza gently ran her fingers through Maria’s hair. “We knew she was malnourished but…”

“Yeah,” Maria sighed, kissing Eliza’s cheek before resting her head on her wife’s shoulder.

“But she’s safe here,” Eliza said, hugging Maria tight. “She’s here with us now and she’s safe.”

“I know,” Maria whispered. “I know.”

———

“I can’t believe you’ve had her for almost a month and we haven’t met her yet,” Peggy said, eyes narrowing as she stared across the small table in the cafe at Eliza. “I want to meet my new niece.”

“She’s only my foster daughter,” Eliza reminded her, sipping her latte.

“You planning on giving her back?” Peggy asked.

“No! Of course not!” Eliza looked horrified at the thought.

“Then for all intents and purposes she is my niece,” Peggy smirked. “And I want to meet her.”

“Maria and I want to give her time to settle in before we introduce her to everyone,” Eliza said. “We love you all but you can be very overwhelming sometimes.”

Peggy only gave a completely unoffended shrug, “I suppose.”

“But she’s been settling in well,” Eliza smiled. “Her therapist says that she doesn’t have any concerns about Susie’s placement with us so that’s good. And she’s doing well in school so far. So Maria was thinking of having some people over this weekend.”

“Some people?” Peggy raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, that would include everyone,” Eliza nodded. “We think it would be nice to introduce Susie to the other kids since some of them are her age.”

“That sounds hectic,” Peggy said, sipping her ice coffee. “You sure that’s a great idea?”

“We think so,” Eliza said, checking the time. Susie’s therapy appointment would end soon but the office was just a five-minute walk away so she still had time. “We’re going to talk to Susie about it tonight.”

“Think she’ll be honest with you?”

“I hope so,” Eliza said, drinking the last of her latte. “We’ve gotten pretty good at noticing when she’s getting overwhelmed so we’ll keep an eye on her.”

“That’s good,” Peggy said, glancing at the time as well. “You’ve got to go right?”

“Yes,” Eliza nodded, standing and pulling on her coat. “And you need to get back to work.”

Peggy waved her comment away, wrapping her scarf around her neck. “I come and go as I please.”

Eliza laughed, going over and pressing a kiss to her baby sister’s cheek. “I’ll text you later about Saturday.”

“See ya, ‘Liza,” Peggy smiled, tucking her hands into her pockets before leaving the cafe.

———

“And if I don’t want to talk to anyone I can go hide in my room?” Susie asked, fiddling with the necklace she refused to take off.

“Yes,” Maria nodded. “Yes of course. And we can always make everyone leave if you get overwhelmed.”

Susie nodded, looking down at her lap as she thought about what Eliza and Maria had proposed - a party so she could meet all their friends and their friends' children. It wasn’t the first party one of her foster parents held that she attended but it was the first time they asked her opinion about it beforehand.

“We don’t have to have the party if it’ll make you uncomfortable,” Eliza said, her voice calm and soft like it always was. “Our top priority is to make you feel happy and safe here.”

“But they’re your friends,” Susie said softly, peaking up at Eliza through her hair. Eliza smiled gently at her, hand wrapped tight around one of Maria’s.

“And your more important than any of them,” Maria said, voice firm but gentle. “And they understand that our priority is you.”

“Alexander was in foster care as well,” Eliza said.

“So everyone will understand if you need some more time before meeting them,” Maria added.

“Could-“ Susie chewed on her lip before sitting up straight and looking over at the couple, “could I maybe meet just a couple of them first?”

“Of course,” Eliza nodded. “What about I invite Angelica and Peggy, my sisters, over for dinner on Friday night? And if things go well then we can invite the others over for Saturday.”

“Okay,” Susie nodded, smiling slightly as she looked down at her lap. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, darling,” Maria said, squeezing Eliza’s hand. “Whatever makes you the most comfortable, Susie.”

“Why don’t you go do your homework, Susie, and I’ll give my sisters a call while Maria starts dinner?” Eliza said, standing. Susie nodded and hopped off the sofa, dashing off down the hall to her bedroom.

———

 

“You can leave at any time,” Maria reminded Susie as she helped the girl braid her hair while Eliza was out in the living room entertaining her sisters.

“I know,” Susie said softly, smiling shyly Maria in the mirror. “You’d mentioned that almost a hundred times in the past couple days.”

“Well, I want you to remember,” Maria said, grabbing a hairband to tie off the end of Susie’s braid. “My foster parents never cared if I was comfortable or not and I want you to know that we do. And if you’re ever uncomfortable I want you to feel like you can talk to us.”

“You’ve mentioned that too,” Susie whispered, unable to stop her smile. She liked both her new foster mothers but she couldn’t deny that she felt a stronger connection with Maria, probably because they both shared a history. “At least fifty-seven times in the past two days alone.”

Maria blushed, giving a small shrug, “I promised myself when I aged out of the system that one day when I was a parent I would never let them feel like they couldn’t talk to me. And I know I’m only your foster mother but I want you to know you can always talk to me about anything.”

“Thank you, Maria,” Susie said softly, turning around to face Maria. She hesitated a moment before leaning over and wrapping her arms around Maria’s waist, hugging her tight. Maria returned the hug, squeezing Susie almost painfully tight for a moment before stepping back.

“Are you ready to go meet Angelica and Peggy?” She asked, brushing Susie’s braid over her shoulder.

“Yes,” Susie said, standing up and grabbing Maria’s hand. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s go then,” Maria said, squeezing Susie’s hand gently before leading her out of the room and down the hall to the living room. As they got closer, Susie got nervous and her grip on Maria’s hand tightened. Maria pulled Susie close and kissed the top of her head before leading her into the living room. Susie tucked herself behind Maria, peaking around her to get a good look at the new people while still safe behind her foster mother.

Both women were sat on the sofa across from Eliza’s chair. She had seen pictures of the sisters so Susie knew that the one in the bright yellow t-shirt was Peggy and the pastel pink sundress was Angelica. Both of them looked over when Maria guided her into the room and smiled, but neither moved to get up. Eliza must have told them not to crowd her which made Susie smile slightly as she hid behind Maria.

“Hello, darlings,” Eliza said. And she did get up and come over, wrapping an arm around Maria’s waist and kissing her cheek. She looked down at Susie still hiding behind Maria and smiled gently before crouching down. “Susie, are you okay, darling? You don’t have to meet them if you don’t want.”

“I know,” Susie whispered, giving Eliza a small smile. “I want to meet them. I’m just a little nervous.”

“No need to be nervous,” Eliza smiled, reaching out and brushing her fingers over Susie’s cheek. “They’re going to love you.”

Susie gave a small nod and took Eliza’s hand, stepping out from behind Maria to stand between her foster mothers, holding both their hands tight as she turned to look at Peggy and Angelica.

“Hello,” Susie said softly, sounding a little nervous but not scared.

“Hello, Susie,” Angelica said, smiling brightly. “It is great to meet you.”

“Finally,” Peggy added, looking at Eliza with a pointed look. Eliza just rolled her eyes and guided Susie and Maria over to the couch across from Peggy and Maria.

“How’re you liking school so far, Susie?” Angelica asked, grabbing her mug of tea off the coffee table.

“It’s nice,” Susie said softly, fiddling with her fingers as she sat between Maria and Eliza.

“Small talk is boring,” Peggy said, rolling her eyes at Angelica before turning to Susie and smiling. “I noticed a new Nintendo Switch that Eliza definitely wouldn’t have bought for herself. And Maria doesn’t like video games so is that yours?”

Susie nodded, “Eliza got it for me as a moving in present.”

“Do you want to play?” Peggy asked, not bothering to wait before getting up and going over to grab the controls.

“Sure,” Susie nodded, standing up and going over to sit on the floor in front of the tv next to Peggy.

———

Peggy and Susie were sat at the kitchen counter, each with a big bowl of ice cream in front of them. They’d finished dinner about ten minutes before and Eliza, Maria, and Angelica had returned to the living room to talk since none of them wanted any dessert. Which left Susie alone with Peggy for the first time while the pair had their ice cream.

“Do you like living with Eliza and Maria?” Peggy asked, scooping up a big spoonful of ice cream and licking it.

“Uh-huh,” Susie nodded, her mouth full of her strawberry ice cream.

“Good,” Peggy nodded, licking all the chocolate ice cream off her spoon before diving back into her bowl for another. Susie watched her, eating her ice cream slowly as she tried to figure out the motivation behind Peggy’s question. Peggy knew Susie was watching her but said nothing. She wanted Susie to feel comfortable around her and Eliza had, on many occasions, informed her that pushing for more than Susie was willing to give was not the way to go about things.

“Has Eliza told you the story about the time she and I accidentally spent the night in a haunted house?” Peggy asked lightly, looking up from her bowl to smile at Susie. The young girl stared back at her, eyes wide as she shook her head. Peggy’s smile grew. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Yes, please, Ms Peggy,” Susie nodded, eyes bright with excitement. Peggy’s nose wrinkled at the title and she gave a small wave of her spoon.

“Call me just Peggy,” she said, scooping up some more ice cream. “Or Aunt Peggy if you want.”

“Really?” Susie breathed, chewing slightly on her bottom lip as her expression turned a bit more hesitant.

“Really,” Peggy nodded, smiling brightly at her. Susie smiled back shyly before ducking her head to look at her ice cream. “So, ‘The Tale of Eliza and Peggy’s Grand Haunted House Adventure’. It all began on a cold autumn night…”

———

“So,” Eliza said, brushing out Susie’s braid as Maria ran a bath for the girl. Peggy and Angelica stayed for a few hours and it was very clear that Susie was very fond of Peggy. It only took a half hour of video game playing to get Susie comfortable around Peggy. “Did you have fun this evening?”

“Yes,” Susie said, fiddling with the sash holding her robe closed. “Your sisters are very nice.”

“You and Peggy seemed to get along,” Eliza smiled, resting the brush down before pulling Susie’s hair up into a bun to keep it dry during her bath.

“She was fun,” Susie smiled. “She tells really good stories.”

“What story did she tell you?” Eliza asked, skillfully twisting Susie’s hair into a bun.

“She told me about the time you two spent the night in a haunted house!” Susie said, grinning at Eliza in the mirror.

Eliza laughed, “Peggy makes that sound a lot more dramatic than it was. But it does make for a good story.”

Susie nodded, watching as Eliza wrapped a hair tie around her bun. “She’s also very good at video games.”

“I would hope so,” Eliza chuckled, “considering that’s her job.”

“Aunt Peggy’s job is to play video games?” Susie’s eyes widened and she looked absolutely delighted. Eliza let out a soft gasp at the use of ‘aunt’, too soft for Susie to hear thankfully. Eliza didn’t want the girl to think that she didn’t want her to call Peggy ‘aunt’. Especially since hearing Susie refer to her sister that way filled Eliza with a wave of warmth and affection for the girl.

“She works for a game development company as a game tester,” Eliza said, resting her hands on Susie’s shoulders, giving a gentle squeeze. She didn’t acknowledge the use of ‘aunt’, thinking it best to just go along with it without comment.

“What’s that mean?” Susie’s brow furrowed adorably as she tried to figure out what Eliza meant.

“She plays games while they’re being created to look for bugs and to make sure the game works properly,” Eliza explained as Maria came into the room.

“Bath’s ready,” Maria said, leaning against the doorframe.

“Alright,” Eliza said, taking a step back so Susie could stand up.

“I wanna be a video game tester,” Susie said as she stood and turned to her foster mothers.

“Well, you can ask Aunt Peggy all about it tomorrow when everyone comes over,” Eliza said.

“Okay!” Susie grinned, skipping out of her room.

“Aunt Peggy?” Maria said softly as Eliza came over.

“I know,” Eliza whispered, wrapping her arms around Maria’s neck as she listened to the sounds of Susie climbing into the bath down the hall. “This is a good thing right?”

“A great thing,” Maria agreed, pressing a gentle kiss to Eliza’s lips. Eliza smiled, pressing in closer to Maria, arms tightening around her neck.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](https://isnonstop.tumblr.com)


End file.
